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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 1, 2016 21:47:46 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2016 21:47:46 GMT -7
@jill15 “Thanks.” He said, knowing full well how shocking it probably was to hear someone basically tell them their life story about how their parents didn’t really care about them. Lance realized he had explained everything rather nonchalantly too. Probably because he had drilled it into his head over the past 6 years that it was just him and Georgie now. They only had each other. Then to have this whole thing with them returning thrown back in…he couldn’t even have a decent conversation with anyone without it coming up these days. All he wanted was a break from it all. Art and Barb could either stay or go. But they had to make the decision. He didn’t care anymore. Trying to make up with him at this point in time was too late. “To be honest, I don’t understand what it feels like either. As far as I’m concerned, they died years ago.”
Since her sister received a letter? That’s right, Olivia had mentioned something about siblings already. How she kind of understood the arguing thing. But the way she had worded it this time was different. “So you’re no-maj-born then? Probably pretty cool to follow a sibling to school. I’ve heard that it doesn’t always happen, so some siblings have magic and others don’t.” He hated to think of it this way, but it was lucky that he and Georgie were half-blood. Then there wasn’t the issue of having to worry about being separated even further. Lance couldn’t imagine what that would have been like.
“Kept mine out too. Georgie would’ve killed me if I had. She wouldn’t leave me alone the entire month, making sure I wouldn’t do it.” Lance laughed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. It was hard putting it that way and making his sister sound like she wasn’t sound of mind. She was, Olivia unfortunately just saw her in one of her little tirades. It happened sometimes. “Now everyone is getting all excited about this dance thing.” Lance rolled his eyes. He was probably going to go back to the orphanage for Christmas. The younger kids loved it when he and Georgie came back. That or they’d be forced to spend it with Barb and Art.
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 2, 2016 10:42:23 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2016 10:42:23 GMT -7
How was she supposed to respond to that? He was very open about how he feels, which is understandable. Some people just don't care about what others think or what they assume about their own lives. Olivia, couldn't imagine not having her parents around. She loved them dearly. Even her siblings. They were always there, and while she felt passionately for Lance and his personal problems, she couldn't help but think he was trying to just act strong. Act like it didn't bother him. Maybe this was his facade he had put up for his little sister, Liv didn't know. But she felt the pull to say something. "You're allowed to feel too, you know. Not just your sister. It affects you as much as it affects her...just thought I'd mention that." Olivia gave him a gentle smile.
She nodded her head. "Yep, no-maj-born. So is my older sister and my twin brother. Although, I have another brother..." She figured so it wouldn't be too confusing, she'd just tell him the whole story. "My parents were pregnant with triplets, me, my brother, and another brother. But, my little brother passed away after he was born. So, my parents adopted a boy who had been left at the hospital by his parents. I'm not sure if he's no-maj-born or not, we've never found his birth parents." Olivia was sure Lance would follow along of the story, it was quite a different one, but one she loved to tell all the same.
"Well yeah! Why aren't you? Dances are fun, Lance." Olivia laughed. She personally had never been to one, but she was positive a magical dance would be at the top of her list for best things experienced. "Are you going?" She had heard it was optional, but she would not just not go! She already had her dress picked out and hanging up in her room. It was gorgeous and sleek and black and it complimented her frame quite nicely.
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 4, 2016 0:02:44 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 0:02:44 GMT -7
@jill15 Maybe he was allowed to feel. As far as he was concerned though, that wasn’t going to happen anymore. It hadn’t in years, at least in regards to his parents. Lance wasn’t exactly hiding his animosity towards his parents though, and he considered that showing his feelings. They were his true feelings and emotions after all. But he was too positive to let them take full hold of him. That’s why it was easier to let Barb and Art go, like they had done to him, rather than trying to reattach himself to them. He didn’t owe them anything at this point. Like he had said, they were still dead in his eyes. The parents that were with them in America seven years ago were not the same ones that reappeared this past summer. He was positive of that.
The conversation was moving onto a lighter note though. He liked learning about other people and their families. To understand the lives that other people led was interesting. Everyone was different; they all had their quirks, their thoughts, their ideas. Most of that was revealed when talking about family, or lack of. He was sure Olivia had already seen how he and Georgie worked. If anything, their first encounter was the epitome of what had been going on since the summer. She saw everything. The siblings had been stripped down to their wits end at that point, and nothing had really resolved itself yet. At least Olivia had an interesting life story. Triplets, one gone, but replaced by an adopted brother. He was a lucky one, always having a family from the start, even if his birth family abandoned him too.
“That’s a pretty big family. Must get hectic around the holidays, especially with a bunch of young witches and wizards.” Lance let out a small laugh, remembering what it was like at the orphanage with the Hogwarts aged children and the volunteers. It would be nice to go back again this year, but there was the dance this year and parents to possibly contend with. He felt like one of those two was going to drag him away whether he wanted to go or not. “I don’t know. Never been to one.” He probably couldn’t even dance. What a sight that would be. An American boy from the south trying to do some fancy high-class dance thing. He’d stick out even more with the students from the other schools around. “What about you?”
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 4, 2016 14:22:46 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2016 14:22:46 GMT -7
Olivia laughed quietly. "Yes, it does get pretty hectic. We've also got an older sister, so there's four of us. But as we got older it gets a lot easier on my parents, we aren't so crazy anymore." As a child, with three red heads and an extra boy, life would get fairly nuts. Especially with the triplets. Olivia tended to get in some rough arguments with her brothers, and being no-maj-born, and her parents being no-maj's, childhood was just confusing and stressful. But as their sister started learning at Hogwarts, life settled down right away.
"I am going, yes. I've bought a dress already. Although, I've never been to one either. But it's my last year here, why not have some fun, right? Let the stress go, just be a kid one last time. You should go! It'll be fun. You won't have to worry about anything but being with friends and having a good time." She smiled gently. Olivia always felt that when life gets rough or stressful, or you had too much on your mind, just letting go and enjoying yourself was the best way to go. And after this small conversation, she felt Lance needed to do just that.
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 7, 2016 0:29:36 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2016 0:29:36 GMT -7
@jill15 Three other siblings? He could imagine that, equating the younger children at the orphanage was the only way he could fathom what that must have been like. Things at the orphanage seemed like they would be depressing during the holidays, the hyping up of spending time with friends and family was sure to put a damper on all the orphans. Luckily they had Freddie. He went over the top with holiday decorations, just to make sure everyone felt like they were part of a family. They were all there together after all, and having negative thoughts because they weren’t adopted yet wasn’t going to help in the slightest. He recalled the first Christmas being rough on him and Georgie, but after that they had come to accept that this was going to be their lives from then on.
“I don’t know…” he repeated. There was still that inkling of a thought that he probably couldn’t dance that was constantly pestering him. He didn’t want to sound vain in front of Olivia, but he had already been asked by at least a dozen girls and had turned them down. He was starting to think that they viewed him like they did the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students; some exotic piece of meat. “Do they let us go on our own?” he hesitated slightly. “I’ve turned a few people down already because I didn’t think I was going to be around for it. But now I think I might be.”
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 7, 2016 12:11:12 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2016 12:11:12 GMT -7
Lance was definitely confused and not sure on what exactly he wanted to do. Which was perfectly alright, but the ball was coming up fast. At least, that's what it felt like for Olivia. This year was going by incredibly fast, and it was her last year and she wanted to remember it well and have a fun time. Which is why the ball wasn't a hard decision for. She was of age, she was not held down by anyone, and she wanted to just have fun. "You need to have some fun too, Lance!"
Olivia laughed and then rose an eyebrow at his words. "Of course you can go on your own, I'm going on my own." She smiled and then her jaw dropped. A few? "You must be popular, a few people, yeah? Who are you going to go back and grab?" She laughed. Olivia hadn't been asked by anybody, not that she minded. Being single wasn't an issue for her, she enjoyed the freedom. Not that she felt like she'd be completely tied down by a boy, but she did feel like it may be more difficult to do whatever she wanted.
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 10, 2016 22:48:10 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2016 22:48:10 GMT -7
@jill15 Fun. Just the sound of it made him wonder if he was even allowed to do that anymore. This had happened one other time, when his parents initially left. That first year at Hogwarts was exhilarating, but he had to keep reminding himself that he and Georgie had been abandoned. That feeling had eventually worn off and yet here it was again. Lance shook his head at his own dilemma, trying to physically shake out his thoughts. This negative behavior wasn’t like him. Olivia was right, he needed to have fun once in a while. Letting people who clearly didn’t care for his well-being affect him like this was ridiculous.
He felt a wave of relief pass over him as she said going solo was allowed. Initially he had planned on asking Ripley to go with him, as friends of course. Lately she had been hanging around the Beauxbatons champion quite a bit. A lot for that matter. Lance didn’t pry too much, though he was pretty sure the French boy was going to ask her. He had a rather loud mouth. An obnoxious one at that. Thinking he was better than everyone else rubbed Lance the wrong way. “Not sure. I wasn’t really interested in going in the first place, so I think a lot of them found someone else already.” That probably wasn’t true. The dance was over a month and a half away. If anyone had solidified their dates at this point, than they were overly eager to go.
“This is just an idea,” he started. “But since we’re both going single, why not just go together? It’d beat wandering around on our own at the start of it.” And in a way, he kind of wanted to get under Georgie’s skin for the way she had acted the week before. Lance wanted to show to her that he could do things on his own without her attached to his hip, and that she could do the same without him.
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 20, 2016 14:16:47 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2016 14:16:47 GMT -7
"Oh well that's perfectly okay!" Olivia hadn't planned on going with anyone either...originally. She had many good friends, guys and girls alike, but Liv in general wasn't too into dating and relationships. Her parents had a great one, so it wasn't out of fear or anything, but she felt like she didn't want to be tied down or brought to do something she didn't want to. While going to a Ball together didn't mean being in a relationship, Olivia had a feeling that it could potentially develop into something more, especially where Lance wasn't someone she knew very well or was very close with.
But, he seemed sweet. Olivia stood up taller, eyebrows raised and smirked at him. "I think that's a great idea." At least this way she wouldn't have to be too uncomfortable when slow songs came on and had to sit on her own. Her eyes narrowed slightly at him. "Do you know how to dance?" She, well, wasn't too terrible. But she could be better. Olivia asked the room for a couch and she went and plopped down on one side of it, sitting criss cross applesauce. A big bag of kettle corn appeared and she grinned, holding some out to Lance. "Hungry?"
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Dec 31, 2016 23:15:41 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2016 23:15:41 GMT -7
@jill15 It probably was perfectly fine not going with anyone. At the same time though, he felt that would be a little strange. To start, it was a dance. A formal ball. If you weren’t going there with a date or in a group of friends, the lonesome wandering was bound to get to anyone. Sure, it would probably be fun walking around and chatting with whomever without the risk of being held back by another person, but Lance was of the mindset that going to events like this meant asking someone to go with them. Going on your own meant you either couldn’t find a person, didn’t want someone else, or were turned down by everyone. He also had the dilemma of having already been asked numerous times, and showing up on his own at this point would be kind of mean. He had more than likely been some of those girls’ first choice to ask, as a few had put it, and popping in solo could be heartbreaking. The last thing he wanted to do was ruin someone else’s night because of his inability to say yes.
Lance wasn’t sure how Olivia was going to respond. The request had been completely out of the blue, and he thought it was a rather innocent proposition. Like he had put it, it was ridiculous for two people to go on their own, probably just to end up talking about it again while there. For some reason, it was hard not to smile when she had she would go with him. That was a lot easier than he thought it would be. How had all those girls that had asked him been as nervous as they were? It was a simple question, with a 50/50 yes or no answer. He had to give it to them though, it probably took a lot of courage. “I can a little. One of my friends, she likes to dance a lot, so I’ve become her designated partner whenever she needs a second.” Ripley more than liked to dance though, and it was more that she would seek him out no matter where he was to drag him into some random part of the school to test out something new. “So I can probably do something simple? Guess we’ll see when it comes time for it.”
By this time, Olivia had made her way over to a couch that had appeared, and took a seat on it. A bag of popcorn also showed up. “Actually, starving. Somehow missed dinner.” He let out an awkward laugh as he sat down next to her. Reaching into the bag, he took a handful of it out, tossing a few pieces into his mouth. Strange how the house elves managed to get food sent all the way up here. “What about you? You do karate, so dancing can’t be too far off right? With the balance and all.”
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Jan 1, 2017 12:08:16 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2017 12:08:16 GMT -7
Olivia saw his smile and couldn't help but smile back. She felt like it was necessary, and it made her feel good to make someone else smile. Lance seemed to be happy about her response, and she was glad that she gave it. It wasn't every day that they'd be going to a Ball, especially the Yule Ball and Olivia had a feeling that she'd have a good time with Lance. His actions and the way he presents himself gave her an idea of how the night would go and she was much more excited now. "Well that's okay. Simple will get us by."
Grabbing another handful, she grinned at Lance when he came over and sat down, grabbing some kettle corn for himself. She had missed dinner as well, but Olivia wasn't much of a fan of large meals. If she could continue eating snacks every day, she would. She'd been like that since a child and her parents absolutely hated it. She'd rarely eat what they cooked, and instead chose snacks. Which is where the kettle corn came in. "Don't let me keep you waiting, you can go eat if you'd like!" Or he could just wish for something, but she was content with her kettle corn. Lance questioned her dancing skills and she laughed. "No, not too terrible. I was in dance classes when I was young but I didn't stick with them. I'm decent, I suppose."
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Jan 13, 2017 18:32:04 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2017 18:32:04 GMT -7
@jill15 Simple would get them by. Olivia was right. As Americans, they probably already stuck out a little bit; not so much this year because of all the other foreign students, but there were times in years past where he became an object of fascination. Obviously that had worn off as the years went on. The younger students always had a good laugh or two trying to imitate his accent. Lance didn’t care, it was all in good fun and it was an innocent act. It was extremely hard to make enemies when everyone inherently liked him for who he was. Although sometimes he wished there was a little bit of contention here and there. Having gone through everything he had, omitting recent events, school was too easy on him. There were never any problems that seemed to effect the little bubble he and Georgie had expected to burst immediately upon arriving at Hogwarts. Maybe she had a different view of things, but the lack of antagonism at school made the return of their parents that much harsher. “Good. ‘Cause simple is really all I can do. Maybe I’ll learn a new trick or two before though.” He winked. Knowing Ripley, that was definitely a possibility.
“It’s not a problem, I had a pretty big lunch. They’ve probably cleared the tables at this point anyways.” At least they would be by the time he finished here and headed back downstairs. Luckily the common room was close to the kitchens, and he could easily duck in and grab a few bites to eat. The house elves were such funny little creatures. “You’ll be better than me. I don’t even need to see you dance to know that.” Lance let out a laugh. He might have known a few things here and there, but from his experiences with Ripley, it was mostly her leading the way and tossing him around in circles. He managed to get the footwork for the easier things, but anything more than that would be difficult. Then again, he had never tried…
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Jan 15, 2017 14:32:02 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2017 14:32:02 GMT -7
Lance's wink made Olivia laugh, and she widened her eyes. "Tricks? I hope you don't plan on doing the cotton eyed joe or anything!" She continued to laugh. Of course, probably no one here knew what that dance was, and if Lance had even thought of attempting it, he'd get made fun of terribly. It was a fun dance, but Olivia wasn't sure how many people other than the Americans would be jolly about learning it.
Olivia nodded, throwing another handful of kettle corn into her mouth. "No biggie, we could just summon more food up here too." She smiled. His compliment to her made her raise a brow and she grinned, shrugging her shoulders as she chewed. "Well, maybe I will be better than you. Who knows?" Her eyes looked around the room, looking for the time. She had a few things to do before she went to bed that night, and while it wasn't all that late, she wanted to make sure she had enough time to do what she needed. "Unfortunately, Lance, I've got to go. Maybe I will see you tomorrow? I enjoyed your company, and I do expect you to follow me again." Laughing quietly, she handed the kettle corn over to him and grabbed her duffel bag, waving as she exited the room.
----OLIVIA OUT----
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last online May 9, 2024 14:50:57 GMT -7
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Jan 15, 2017 20:43:28 GMT -7
Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2017 20:43:28 GMT -7
@jill15 Good lord the cotton eyed Joe dance. He remembered that a little too fondly. That song was played at every no-Maj children’s event in existence. Luckily he had escaped it coming to England. “Don’t worry, can’t recall how it goes.” Lance laughed. “Been a long time since I’ve heard that though. I figure that’s a little too ‘American’ for their tastes here.” He laughed again. It was a formal ball after all, he doubted that they would put something no-Maj on, especially one as dated as that song was. Of course, that all depended on who was doing the music. Lance definitely wasn’t one to go up and request it. Doing that dance was embarrassing even among other Americans doing it.
The room could summon food? He guessed that made sense, seeing as the popcorn had appeared out of nowhere. That was rather impressive actually. It probably had a pipeline to the kitchens or something; some way for the house elves to know and send the food up. “Force of habit will have me sneaking into the kitchens later. Almost everyone down there does it at some point or another.” Lance had become a regular lately. Being a sixth year seemed to make the whole thing feel like he deserved to sneak around. Georgie would kill him if she found out, but when he was hungry, he was hungry. “Looks like we’re already on the same wavelength then.”
The kettle corn was handed over to him as Olivia stood up to leave. It was getting pretty late after all. Lance stood up too, giving her a smile as she talked. “Of course. Probably not too hard to find me, seeing as I’m one of two with the funny accents at the Hufflepuff table.” She turned to leave, waving at him. “I’ll see you around then.”
[THE END]
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